Posts Tagged ‘Milind Gadagkar’

Maverick filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is ready with the sequel of Phoonk, titled Phoonk 2. The film has been directed by Milind Gadagkar, who had written the original version.

Launching the first look of the film, RGV Said, “When Milind Gadagkar the writer of Phoonk came up with the idea of Phoonk 2, the opening sequence itself made me jump up in my seat. The moment I read the entire script I was convinced that he should direct the film as I was amazed at the clarity he had in detailing of the story.”

Comparisons between the two films are inevitable, to which he replies, “In spite of Phoonk’s hit status quite a few people say that it’s not a scary film and there is a reason for that. Scare can be of two kinds, where one is of a kind which scares you due to a completely helpless situation you catch yourself in, and the other which just plain scares your senses. Bhoot falls in the 2nd category whereas Phoonk falls in the 1st one. Phoonk 2 also falls in the 2nd category where its intention is as plain and simple – to just scare the audience’s pants off.”

On choosing the horror genre for his first film, debutante director Milind Gadagkar says, “Ever since I can remember, I have always been a huge fan of the horror genre and the psychosis of fear. Fear is such a strong emotion that it defies all logic. As small children we are scared of entering a dark room; somewhere further in life, we rather try and avoid isolated roads with no street lights.”

“It is not just ghosts that we are scared of but there are times in our lives when a strange and inexplicable incident also scares the hell out of us. Studying this phenomenon of fear has always intrigued me. All said and done, I am really thrilled that inspite of me not having liked Phoonk, Ramu liked Phoonk 2,” Milind concludes.

When asked if he was satisfied with Milind’s treatment of the film, RGV said, “When I saw the 1st cut of what Milind showed me of the film, I told him that it’s not only far better than Phoonk but I think it is the scariest film Bollywood has ever made and it is miles above all my so-called scary films like Bhoot, etc and I mean every word of it from my spine onwards….. Chilling!”

RGV even lets out a bit of the story, “If the entire Phoonk story was about how this evil woman who practices black magic was bent upon torturing and killing a little girl in order to make her father suffer and how the father after desperately trying every measure manages to get a tantrik who kills the evil woman, Phoonk-2 starts off with the spirit of the evil woman coming back from the dead and brutally murdering the tantrik.”

The film has been made in three languages, Hindi, Tamil (Bommai-2) and Telugu (Aavaham). Looks like audiences can await one chilly ride with Phoonk 2.

One can’t deny the fact that White Feather Films (WFF), Sanjay Gupta’s production house, has churned one of the best dark thrillers in the past. In fact, every film of WFF right from Kaante to the recent Woodstock Villa has been very dark but still managed to impress audiences. Their new flick, Acid Factory, too follows the WWF tradition! It’s dark, it has black humour and most importantly, it has surprises. However, the second hour spoils the show. More details later!

The story of the movie: A guy somewhere in his mid-20s (Fardeen Khan) wakes up and finds himself trapped in a dilapidated factory. He has no memory as to how he got there inside. He doesn’t even remember his own name! A phone rings somewhere and he picks up. The caller (Irrfan Khan) seemed like a boss, who gives some orders. Later, the man discovers four more people in the factory (Aftab Shivdasani, Manoj Bajpayee, Dino Morea and Danny Denzongpa) and they all are in a similar state of mind. One of them is tied to a chair and one is handcuffed. All doors are locked and the windows had iron grills and so there was no chance of escaping. Also, the factory was located at a remote place so there was no possibility of even shouting and getting attention of someone from outside. The guys later discover that it is an acid factory and that some of them were criminals. To find out as to how they lose their memory and what happen next, watch the film.

Acid Factory’s first hour is power-packed. The film holds your attention wonderfully right from the first scene. The characters in the factory waking up, bewildered, one by one and their talking, shouting and cracking jokes with one another sets the mood. Two more tracks run simultaneously-one, the flashback portions of Fardeen and the other, the kidnapping heist. Yet, the film doesn’t turn confusing and for this, full marks should be given to director Suparn Verma.

The characters later learn that two of them are kidnapped. But again, with no memory, they have no idea as to who are the kidnappers and who are the hostages! This really makes the situation weird but interesting!

But things slid down in the 2nd half. They should have been more thrilling moments and drama but instead, a lot of action scenes are thrown in. No doubt that it was a treat watching those scenes but after a point of time, it became too much. Also, the climax wasn’t impressive, although it was engrossing. And the glaring flaws at this point are shocking. But due to a bad 2nd half, one gets out of the theatre disappointed. If the film had an equally powerful 2nd half, Acid Factory would have been a coming of the age film.

Every actor was perfect. Fardeen Khan had more screen presence than the rest and like everytime, he gave a fantastic performance. He still has two films this year (Dulha Mil Gaya and All The Best). Let’s hope he gets appreciation which he rightfully deserves. Aftab Shivdasani rocks as the angry young man. Dino Morea surprises with a brilliant performance. Manoj Bajpayee acts well and succeeds in making the viewers laugh.

Danny Denzongpa, like everytime, was flawless. Irrfan Khan impresses. A lot of hype was created about Dia Mirza’s presence in the film as she’s the only female actor in the main cast. However, she enters only in the second hour and didn’t have much to do. But she performs well, though. Gulshan Grover and Neha were alright.

The film has couple of songs (including an item number) which wasn’t needed at all. The song ‘Ye Jism Hai’ looked totally out of place in the film. Sahil Kapoor’s cinematography was topnotch. Actor Saurabh Shukla and Sanjay Gupta have written the dialogues which were excellent. Tinu Verma’s action was top-class and kudos to him and his team! Hemal Kothari’s editing was slick. Milind Gadagkar’s story was great but he can’t be given the credit as the film seems inspired from the Hollywood flick, Unknown.

Suparn Verma and Sanjay Gupta’s screenplay was outstanding in the beginning portions but deteriorated in the 2nd hour, esp towards the climax. Suparn Verma, overall, impresses a lot as the director. This film will be a commercial flop but Suparn’s efforts will surely be noticed and would be appreciated for sure.

Some of the best scenes of the film:
1. Fardeen picking up Irrfan’s first call
2. The chase sequence in the beginning
3. Fardeen’s first meeting with Danny
4. Fardeen, Dino and Aftab interrogating Danny
5. Irrfan taking away the ransom (wonderful scene)
6. The intermission point
7. Dia Mirza’s entry
8. Fardeen, Dino, Aftab and Danny calling for help from outside (another fabulous scene)

On the whole, Acid Factory is a fast, intriguing film that falls in the 2nd half. The film was badly promoted and that’s why it failed to have a good opening. With three BIG releases next Friday, Acid Factory will vanish from the theatres for sure. But all those interested, it would be no harm catching this 120 minute dark thriller on VCD/DVD later!

Phoonk is not flawless, but still it deserves the highest praise. A film with no known star cast and made on a budget of just Rs. 3 crores manages to attract audiences and achieve the ‘Hit’ status-a very big achievement, considering the fact that nowadays even multi-starrers and films starring superstars fail miserably. I had missed this film in theatres. 2 months back, I won its VCD after I participated in an online survey! And now that I am free, I finally saw this film last week. As mentioned earlier, the film has some minuses but overall, it manages to entertain, thrill and scare a bit too!

The story of the movie: Rajiv (Sudeep) is a rich and successful construction engineer, living in a posh duplex house in Mumbai. He has a lovely wife Aarti (Amruta Khanvilkar), adorable children, Raksha (Ahsaas Channa) and Rohan (Shrey Bawa) and a god-fearing mother (Jyothi Subhash). Rajiv is an atheist and doesn’t believe even in the existence of God or evil forces. But one day, his daughter Raksha gets falls into the trap of demonic forces and this compels Rajiv to get out of his beliefs and take necessary action against it. But how would Rajiv do it? And who is behind these evil acts? Watch Phoonk to find out!

Many may not like Phoonk but one can’t deny the fact that the film engrosses the viewer right from the first scene and keeps everyone glued to the screen till the end. The film doesn’t send the chill down the spine but there are ample thrilling moments in the film which makes it interesting. The intro scenes, when the titles roll, set the mood. Rajiv’s outburst at the party and the villains making their evil plan were too good. But Raksha being possessed by evil powers takes the film to a high (especially the school scene-fantastic!).

What doesn’t work is that Phoonk doesn’t scare at all. The film was publicized as a total horror film and many expected it to be scarier than RGV’s Bhoot. And due to these high expectations, many were disappointed with the film. What also bewilders is that how come Rajiv became an atheist, when his mother was a staunch believer in God? No light was thrown on Rajiv’s past regarding this. And the climax could have been shot better.

The best performance in the film is undoubtedly given by Ahsaas Channa! The girl, who has always acted as boy before (‘she’ was seen as ‘he’ in Vaastu Shastra, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna etc!) does an extraordinary job. It was a very difficult task in her hands but she came out with flying colours. And it’s really shocking to see that her performance was never considered during awards. When preparing a list of best child artistes of 2008, everyone remembered only Aman Siddiqui(Bhoothnath), Purav Bhandare (Tahaan), Dwij Yadav (Heroes) and Manjit Singh (‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’). Not a single award even nominated her for any award. Very unfortunate!

Sudeep was rocking and a powerful performer. He’ll be seen next in RGV’s forthcoming Rann as Amitabh Bachchan’s son. Amruta Khanvilkar also delivers a fantastic performance. Lileete Dubey as Dr Seema was excellent and it was great to see her after a long time! Ashwini Kaleskar shines in her over-the-top performance! K K Raina looked every inch a doctor. Zakir Hussain and Jyothi Subhash surprise with their powerful performance. Ganesh Yadav lent able support. Others were good.

A ‘horror’ flick of Ram Gopal Verma is bound to have flawless cinematography and background score. Sure enough, background score (Amar Mohile) was perfect, providing the thrills at the precise scary moments. Savita Singh’s cinematography was raw and unusual and does total justice to the setting in the film. But she falters in the climax.

Milnd Gadagkar wrote the story and screenplay of the film which without a shred of doubt fantastic! Kudos to him for writing a plot based on superstition and tantra-mantra stuff (how many times has it been attempted before?)! Screenplay is top notch and the magical Ram Gopal Verma touches helps to make things better. They could have done a better job in the climax but nevertheless, a great effort by the entire team!

Some of the best scenes:
1. The intro scene
2. Madhu (Ashwini Kalsekar) at Rajiv’s house
3. The party scene
4. Raksha suddenly goes missing
5. Bones and lemon found at Rajiv’s place!
6. Raksha at the school (marvelous scene!)
7. The docs treating Raksha at home
8. Murtaza (Zakir Hussain) at Rajiv’s home

On the whole, Phoonk is a nice timepass entertainer. It is definitely not horrifying as it was promoted and has some flaws too. But still, it works and can easily be seen once on a lazy Sunday afternoon!